


Do You Believe in Happy Endings?

by Bobbs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Every one is there or mentioned, Gen, Peter Parker-centric, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), fix-it because I'm sad, this is a spiderman fic, those specifically tagged have more of a main part in the story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 01:36:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14885156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bobbs/pseuds/Bobbs
Summary: “I’m sorry”And he feels his body crumble….And it is the weirdest goddamn feeling.---------------------------------------OR, a Peter-centric infinity war fix-it fic.





	Do You Believe in Happy Endings?

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, Infinity War came out over a month ago now, but i'm still not over it so I wrote this. Feel free to leave constructive criticism!   
> Fair warning, I wrote several parts of this in the early hours of the morning and read over it and cleaned it up myself, so I'm sorry if it isn't the best.

“Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good…”

The words trembled from his lips. He really didn’t feel good, he didn’t feel bad per say, he wasn’t in pain, but it felt as if he was slowly being pulled and stretched apart and his body was desperately fighting to hold him together, it was definitely uncomfortable. As time passed he felt his body starting to lose and he was _scared_. He had just watched his impromptu team mates all disintegrate one by one, he knew what was happening. He stumbled towards Mr. Stark begging and pleading even though he knew the older man could do nothing about this dilemma, despite trying everything to prevent it.

Damn they really tried so damn hard to prevent this, everybody did, only for them to fail… That fucking sucks.

He can feel his arms and legs growing weaker, not staying where they should stay. Mr. Stark can’t hold the both of them up anymore, so they fall. And Peter feels himself running out of time. But there’s so much he hasn’t done, he needs more time, he just wishes he had more time. What he wouldn’t give for Mr. Strange’s weird glowing rock necklace. Thanos called it the Time stone, that ought to give him more time. Too bad Thanos took it, along with everything else he’s taken.

Peter’s mind drifts a little. Aunt May is going to be worried sick, she probably knows Peter threw himself right into the action just like he always does. Oh god Tony is going to have to tell May what happened to him, he’s almost glad he won’t be around to see how devastated she’ll be; he hopes she doesn’t blame Mr. Stark too much, it really wasn’t his fault. Out of everything they could have prevented, this wasn’t really one of those things. Peter was dying because of a coin flip that landed on tails, tails being turning into dust, he didn’t even get to call it. _Shit, was Aunt May even still alive? Was Ned? MJ? Oh god._ Ned and MJ, his closest friends, he hopes they’re ok, he really wishes he could have at least said goodbye to everybody.

He feels a little more of himself drifting away and his mind comes back to the present, it feels like it’s been hours but its barely been a few seconds. He looks up into his mentor’s eyes and sees the despair and pain there. Knowing Mr. Stark, he’s probably wishing he could trade spots with Peter. Peter thinks it’s probably better that he’s the one going and not Tony. Someone smart has to stick around and try and fix this entire mess.

Finding the last of his breath he pushes out what he thinks are probably the lamest last words, but he needs Mr. Stark to know, he hopes he realizes that they aren’t just for his mentor, but also for his aunt, the closest thing to a mother he has, they’re for his best friend, they’re for his teammates, both here and on Earth. He really wishes he could stay, he wishes he could have done more.

“ _I’m sorry_ ”

And he feels his body crumble….

And it is the weirdest goddamn feeling.

* * *

 

 

Just as he had disintegrated, he feels his body reform. Just not in the same place. His eyes reform open, and he’s in another location that has a weird orange glow.

As soon as he has the body to do so, he gasps in air and he can’t stop doing it. In the back of his mind he knows he’s hyperventilating, but most of his mind is panicking at being dead(?) and then coming back to life(?). He’s trying to do what he normally does during his panic attacks, which he’s been having since the incident with Ben, but he can’t control his breathing, everything feels overbearing. So, he goes to step two and tries to focus on what is physically around him, he feels a thin layer of liquid under him and the sky and space around him is an odd orange hue, the air is thick and old as if breathing inside an old library. The strangeness of this location does nothing but alarm him more. He can’t stop his panic, which only sends him further into hysteria.

Suddenly, through the clouds fogging his head, he hears a voice that he thinks is calling to him.

“Kid. Peter. Can you hear me? I need you to let me know you can hear me.”

The voice sounds calm and professional, and he recognizes it! He realizes that someone is crouched down in front of his sitting form (when had he sat up?). He nods sharply still trying to stop hyperventilating, which essentially is just him going back and forth from holding his breath for a few seconds and harsh hiccupping breaths, it really isn’t helping.

“Ok good, now I want you to hold my hand,” Peter reaches out and takes the hand offered to him, he still hasn’t focused his eyes on the figure in front of him so everything is still a big blur but he trusts whoever it is, “good now focus on squeezing and un-squeezing my hand,” He starts to, forgetting his strength, “ _gently_.” the man says strained, peter adjust, already feeling himself calm down a bit, he isn’t trembling as much but his breathing is still troubled.

“Peter, I need you to look at me and breath with me” Peter moves his focus to his eyes, making the figure become an actual person, that person being Dr. Strange; he watches as the wizard takes deep, slow breaths and he tries to match it. Focusing on both squeezing his hand and matching the deep breaths. It takes a few minutes but Peter finally, _finally_ , calms down. He realizes he had been crying and let’s go of Dr. Strange’s hand to half-heartedly wipe away the tears. He also realizes that his “impromptu team mates were gathered nearby, crouched together. The Starlord guy looks over and notices that Peter is now in a better state. The others follow his gaze and realize similarly. A green woman that Peter doesn’t recognize stands to walk over to him.

“Are you ok now?” she says gently as she offers him a hand and pulls him up.

“I don’t think anybody here can describe themselves as ok,” he looks around seeing the vast and orange infiniteness full of people walking around aimlessly, gathered in groups, holding each other, “but I’m doing better.” He turns to Dr. Strange and quietly thanks him, the older man just squeezes his shoulder.

The green woman gives a soft smile and nods and the others approach, gathering around them. Peter notices how the others stay near each other, he recognizes it as a coping mechanism. They are a family and they are protecting and gaining comfort from the proximity of each other. It’s how he and May acted when Ben died, and how they still act when one of them have a bad day.

“What’s your name?” green lady asks

“It’s uh- Peter, Peter Parker” he stutters a bit simultaneously overwhelmed at the company and glad to have it. Green lady’s lips quirk into a smile once again.

“His name is Peter Quill, you two seem to have something in common” she gestures to the Starlord dude who seems to be staring at him like he just realized something.

“Hey kid how old are you anyways? You look like your 12 or something” Starlord(Peter?) doesn’t have the same goofiness to his voice but it seems like he’s trying to.

“I’m 17, why?”

“Jesus Christ you _are_ like 12-“

“17!”

“-What are you even doing in this fight?”

Peter’s about to answer, but the bigger guy, who he thinks is named Drax, speaks up.

“On my planet, Children are encouraged to fight, they are trained from a young age, also when two of the same name come together they are obliged to do battle! Sometimes to the death!” his voice booms, he seems to finally have found something amusing about this situation, him being the only one to. The others of his friends look at him bewildered, except the antennae lady (Mantis he thinks) looks at him in awe instead.

“I’m pretty sure we’re already dead, so I don’t think we could even fight to the death.” Peter says, the others return their stairs to him, Drax once again looks disheartened.

“I don’t think we’re dead” Strange finally speaks up

“Nor do I” Green lady agrees, they look to her to continue, “I didn’t get _here_ the same way you all did, Thanos traded me for the Soul Stone, a soul for a soul, but everyone who was unfortunate enough to be caught on the wrong side of his insanity came here too. That leads me to assume we are being held _within_ the Soul Stone.”

“Gamora…what does that _mean_ exactly?” Quill speaks up quietly (aha! Green lady’s name is Gamora!).

“It means that we can be brought back.” Strange answers.

* * *

 

 

What the _fuck_ just happened? He knows every one was fighting, even on Earth, so how in the fucking world did they lose? This was not happening, this could not be happening, half the universe didn’t just _fucking die_. He was not accepting that.

Tony Stark sat amongst the ruins of Titan kneeling in the dust of his impromptu team mates. Kneeling in the dust of- _Oh god._

He shook the thought from his head and struggled to stand. Nebula taking pity on him helps him up.

“I’m going to fix this, I’m going to make him regret ever deciding to go down this stupid fucking path.” He sneered

“What do you plan to possibly do Stark?” Nebula questioned sounding just as angry and annoyed.

“Those damn stones caused all this, they can reverse it,” Nebula side-eyed him, “I know some of the strongest and smartest people, I just need to make it back to Earth and make sure they’re all still _alive_ , then I’ll think of a way to make that purple bastard regret ever picking up rock collecting.” Tony grunts, struggling with his wounds. He hears Nebula’s robotic voice sigh in annoyance and frustration but she doesn’t argue, supporting him as they walk towards a ship and eventually board it.

“I can fly you to Earth on Quill’s ship, there’s medical supplies on board, you can fix yourself up right?” Tony made an affirmative sounding noise, “I’ll help with whatever idiotic plan you come up with, Thanos took everything from me, he took my sister, I want to watch him suffer and I want to achieve what I failed in doing before.”

She sets him down by what he’ll need in order to do a better patch job on his wounds and then sets the ships coordinates on route to Terra.

The trip takes a course of what is equivalent to six Terran days. Stark’s wounds aren’t bleeding but Nebula sees he isn’t faring well, He’s probably infected and has been going in and out of consciousness the entire trip. Nebula can’t afford to let him die, she’s counting on him and whatever acquaintances he seems to be confident can help them. So, she makes sure he eats and helps fix his sloppy bandages. Stark is obviously not a doctor. When they finally reach Terra, Stark rises to consciousness enough to tell her where to go.

They land in a large field a distance away from towering buildings and are met with ships and soldiers with spears surrounding them. Nebula knows better than to walk out there empty handed or carrying a battered Stark, she’ll be taken down quicker than Thanos snapped his fingers. She goes on the ships loud speaker.

“Terrans, I’m not here to fight you, I’m with Tony Stark, He is injured and is most likely dying, I would prefer it if he didn’t die so don’t fire, I’m coming out with him.” She tried to sound peaceful, but she knows she sounded more annoyed than anything, that’s how she felt at least. She saw the spears the warriors held lower slightly and took it as the closest thing to non-hostile as she was going to get. She throws Stark’s arm over her shoulder and drags him out of the ship.

As soon as she steps out the spears are once again raised in defense, she rolls her eyes.

“Oh lower your weapons, I don’t want to fight you! I’m not even armed!” Nebula was beginning to be very annoyed, she did not spend 6 days tending to a useless man and getting him home only to be attacked and arrested on sight, “And will someone please get this man off my hands! He’s probably dying if not already dead.”

Stark took this moment to wake up a bit. He took some of his weight back and lifted his head to look around.

“Where the fuck is Steve Rogers” he groans in pain and passes out again slipping off Nebula’s shoulder and into a heap on the ground.

She hears one of the soldiers call out in a foreign language and she takes a step back thinking they might attack, but all at once the spears are lowered and the soldiers stand up straight. The ships fly off and four unarmed Terrans walk forward. As another slightly larger ship speeds towards them, landing nearby. Three of the four crouch down and attend to Stark as more people come from the ship. They are obviously non-combatants, most likely doctors seeing as they cart him away on a floating table. The fourth Terran, a tall woman, speaks to her.

“You are Nebula correct?” she nods as an answer, “Luckily for you we are housing a friend who recognized you.” The woman gives a small smile as if the situation is somehow funny.

“Who?” Nebula demands, startled at this new information, who does she know that could possibly be on Terra right now? One of the Guardians? But they turned to dust? She knows not all of them were there…

“A small racoon that goes by Rocket.” The woman sounded confused by the statement, Nebula has no idea what a racoon is, but recognizes the name Rocket. _So not all of the Guardians perished than. It would be unfortunate if he was the only one left, but than again this entire happening was unfortunate so chances weren’t in his favor_. “You can follow me, we are housing all the warriors who fought Thanos, Stark will join you all when he is well.” And with that Nebula followed the woman back to the nearby city as did the troops of soldiers

* * *

 

 

Peter had no idea how long it’s been since they were dusted away into this orange hell hole, at least that’s what Quill had called it. All he knows is that time moved weird inside the stone, they had no urge to eat, drink, go to the bathroom, or even sleep, although Peter doesn’t think he would even be able to fall asleep if he tried, there was no evidence that time was moving at all. His head hurts thinking about it too much.

The only thing they all could figure out aside from their most likely location, was that they were brought together with and near people they knew or had strong connections to, either directly or through others. That’s how it came to be that Peter, Dr. Strange, and what they refer to themselves as the Guardians, met up with those of the Avengers that had been dusted (Everyone is telling him to stop calling it ‘being dusted’ but what else can he call it?) back on Earth. It’s also how he discovers that Aunt May, Ned, and MJ were all most likely spared during what he dubs as The Dusting, another phrase that gets him swatted by Strange and Gamora. He thinks he recognizes some faces in the distance but because of his ties with Mr. Stark and the battle with Thanos, it seems he had a stronger indirect connection with the fallen heroes all huddled up.

At first, he hadn’t realized that they had appeared, he wants to say spawned but that didn’t seem entirely accurate considering the circumstances, so close together.

He had realized his companions were all obviously troubled with their situation, so he did what he did best when Aunt May was having one of her bad days which was to be the best goofy nephew she had, meaning act light hearted and crack horrible jokes and pop-culture references. Considering his current crowd may not have really understood his pop culture references and that he was beyond troubled too, it didn’t have the same effect on his friends than it usually did May. His voice was shaking and even to him his joking and laughing sounded forced, maybe even a bit hysterical. Maybe that’s why he would get half smiles whenever he made eye contact with someone, except Dr. Strange who was doing his weird wizard meditating. He kept rambling until he heard someone call out to him, a voice he didn’t recognize and certainly wasn’t from his current group.

“Hey kid! I recognize your voice! You’re that Spider kid from the airport!” It wasn’t an excited shout, nor was it an angry shout, but simply a raised voice making a statement to get his attention. He looked over his shoulder towards the voice and at the same time he felt a hand come down on his shoulder, grounding him. The hand belonged to Gamora, who had taken up the position as current adult guarding him, who stood to protect him, and the voice belonged to none other than the winter soldier, Sergeant Barnes. He was walking up to the group followed by the actual Falcon. Behind them came who Peter instantly recognized as the Scarlet Witch, and two people that he did not recognize at all.

The Guardians were immediately on edge by the groups approach, Peter was kept at the center of the group along with the other apparent young one who introduced himself as Groot, he was a tree, Peter was still fascinated by that. But they were still kept in the middle like they were in any actual danger. Peter wanted to yell that they were all already sucked into a freaking orange rock, he thinks the danger has passed, but he holds his tongue.

“Who the hell are you guys?” Quill stepped up already stressed and ready to protect his little family. Mr. Barnes(?) stared at him bewildered and the Actual Falcon stepped up too, probably wondering what this weird guy’s problem was, at least that was what Peter had wondered when he had met the Starlord. Gamora stood up taller, in what was almost a fighting stance, and Peter got a shiver down his spine, if he didn’t step in, a huge misunderstanding might happen.

“Wait-um, Mr. Starlord, Ms. Gamora, they’re ok, they’re from Earth! I know them!” Peter pushed his way through and got in between the two groups, the heroes turned their staring to him instead. Then they all started talking at and around him, very loudly, he could barely keep up.

“You’re the kid we fought at the airport?” (the Actual Falcon)

“Did you just call me ‘Mr. Starlord’?!” (Mr. Starlord)

“You’re like 12!” (the Actual Falcon once again)

“What are you doing fighting a child?!” (Gamora directed at the Actual Falcon)

“Hey! I’m 17!” Peter was getting frustrated

“Hey now we had no idea there was a kid on the battle field, and it wasn’t like a real fight, just like a dispute?” (Falcon)

“Oh please, your boyfriend held a gun to the kid’s head” (Dr. Strange also annoyed and coming out of his meditation, directing it towards Gamora)

This caused Gamora to whirl around and stare accusingly at Quill.

“Wh- hey! To be fair I didn’t know he was a kid at first either! I thought he was one of Thanos’s goons!” (Mr. Starlord)

“I’m not as fragile as I look you know!” Peter was really getting frustrated.

“Oh please, you look like the grass from my planet!” (Surprisingly Drax)

“I’ll have you know I lifted almost an entire building worth of rubble off myself! Could your grass do that?” Peter was way too stressed for this entire situation. Drax made a face that said it might.

“Why the hell were you under a building kid?” Sargent Barnes spoke up, choosing to initially to stay out of the yelling match. Everyone else turned to eye Peter too, he hadn’t exactly told anyone about his past adventures, he wasn’t planning for that to slip out. Eh, better here than in front of May or Mr. Stark.

“I made a bad call…. But! I got myself out of it, I’m not just some weak kid guys, so you don’t have to keep babying me” That’s probably the first time his voice had let on how frustrated with this situation he was. Everyone else was eyeing him, not really saying anything.

“So, you’re the Spiderman I’ve been hearing about?” one of the unknowns stepped forward, a taller man with an eyepatch.

“Uh- yes, yes sir, I’m Peter Parker” He took a step back, he had no idea who this man was.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Parker, I’m Nick Fury, and this is Maria Hill” he gestures to the second unknown who in turn gives a nod, Peter was Starstruck, he had heard of Nick Fury! Any Avengers fanboy had heard at least a little about the mysterious man. He had no idea what to say.

 “What the hell kind of mentoring is Stark giving you that gets you stuck under buildings and falling out of plains? Yes, I heard about that little incident too.”

“Uh… the tough love kind?” he said, unsure of himself suddenly. Mr. Fury just chuckled at him, he also noticed that some of the other Avengers cracked a smile at his comment.

After that the two groups merged and began discussing their situation. To Peter’s dismay, he and Groot were still kept at the center of their little huddle.

He liked Groot despite not being able to understand what the alien teen was saying, but if he was being honest he envied him in this situation. Groot had what seemed like an entire family to comfort him, and although Peter knew pretty much all of the people around him, none of them knew him. None of them could offer that familial support to him. There always seemed to be a hand on Groot’s shoulder and peter craved that more than anything. He missed aunt May.

* * *

 

 

Aunt May paced behind the sofa in her small Queens apartment living room. The T.V. was on, tuned into an emergency broadcast that kept survivors up to date with whatever news they could get. The street outside was abandoned and eerily quiet, the city around them was still smoking from the chaos that unfolded. Half the city was in disarray from the panic and riots, the other half was silent with people retreating into their homes to mourn or hold their families safe. May was among the latter.

Ned and MJ were with her. Ned’s moms were thankfully still alive, they were on vacation to celebrate their anniversary when everything occurred. Ned rushed over to May, not knowing where else to go. He was in a panic and dissolving into tears not being able to reach them at first, only due to the telephone lines being flooded and down. Hours later they reached each other and they had cried and once they assured each other they were safe Ned passed May the phone. His mothers had thanked her profusely for keeping Ned with her and told her they weren’t able to come back yet due to the lasting panic. She assured them that everything is ok and to focus on staying safe. And that’s how Ned ended up in her small apartment, sitting sniffling on her couch staring at the T.V.

MJ wasn’t as fortunate as Ned. She had rushed home first and apparently found nothing but dust, no siblings, no father, just dust. She had no other family in the city either. So, she came to May, because that was the only place she knew she could go, she knew Ned was there, she knew May was there, she knew Peter might be, but probably wasn’t, there, most of all she knew it was safe. And that’s how she ended up in the small apartment sitting against the wall next to Peter’s closed door, knees pressed to her chest and staring blankly out the window.

They all knew where Peter was, or at least had been. They had all seen the footage of Spiderman on the giant ship above New York. What May didn’t know was if he ever made it back to Earth, if he even made it out of the fight she knew he was fighting. She didn’t know if he had… she can’t even entertain the thought; her stomach was already filled with sickening dread. And what made all of it worse was that there was no call from Tony, no call from anyone with news of her last living family, her boy. So, she paced, and the T.V. stayed a haunting red hue with the words “EMERGENCY BROADCAST: more news to come, stay tuned” flashing on screen. The ‘more news to come’ was probably the death count, missing people’s names, etc. Surviving authority figures were gathering resources to try and count the survivors, they were trying to get the rioters under control, they were trying to prevent the collapse of society. May thinks it’s a little late for that.

Finally, after hours of pacing, and clutching her phone, the thing finally rings. Ned and MJ’s heads both snap to look at her with wide, red-rimmed eyes. With shaking hands, she pulls up her phone. Gasping in a harsh breath when she sees the contact name of one Tony Stark. She slides the icon and answers

“Where is my boy Stark.” Her voice is strained and wet.

“uh- I’m Sorry Ma’am, but I don’t know. I was told to call May Parker, is this her?” a voice that is definitely not Tony Stark replies on the other side of the line.

“I’m May Parker, who is this? Where the hell is Stark?” she demands, she’s once again starting to panic, and she can’t because she has kids that are just as scared as she is.

“This is Steve Rogers, Stark is currently in critical condition and has been in and out of consciousness, he told me to call you and to inform you that you need to come to Wakanda. We have a ship on its way”

“I can’t just up and leave, I have kids here who need me to take care of them, I ca- “

“Don’t worry ma’am you can bring them here too, its safer anyways, New York is in disarray and it’s only getting worse, the ship has been informed it’s picking up multiple people, it’ll be there in about an hour, pack what you need and we’ll see you soon.” The captain’s voice sounds strained too, pained almost. May cuts in before he can hang up.

“Wait, please tell me, did my boy- uh- Spiderman, come back with Stark, please tell me he’s ok.” She desperately asks, tears sliding down her cheeks, the phone is quiet for a few unbearable seconds, she hears nothing but his soft breathing, finally he speaks.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Parker, Tony only came back with one person, Spiderman wasn’t with him.” His voice is somehow gets impossibly softer, May’s heart recognizes his tone of voice as someone who knows loss, someone who knows exactly what she’s feeling, he probably does. But May doesn’t have the energy to analyze that, all she knows is that she’s just received the worst news of her life. A cry rips from her throat and she drops her phone and falls to her knees. Behind her she hears MJ give a soft pained moan, the captain calling her name through the phone’s speakers, and Ned give a chorus of “ _no no no no no no_ ” she should go comfort him, but she doesn’t have the strength, she doesn’t have anything.

_Peter had told her one time, when he was high on pain meds after particularly bad fight, that he thought he was cursed. MJ had nearly been mugged on this particular occasion, she had almost died that night, Peter had got there just in time, and took a blow that would’ve killed her. He said that he thought he was cursed, thought that everyone too close to him was destined to meet an awful fate, he admitted that he knew it wasn’t realistic, but he couldn’t help but think_. Now, as May clutches her chest and painful sobs rack her body, that it may actually be her that’s the cursed one.

Ned’s sniffles and sobs grow closer and she feels him kneel next to her, they clutch each other, both crying at the loss of Peter Parker. Supporting each other as they mourn. She hears MJ walk over too, but MJ doesn’t kneel with them, instead she reaches down and picks up the phone.

“Hello?” she answers the captains callings

“Hello? Who is this? Is Mrs. Parker alright?” The man sounds alarmed and tired at the same time.

“She’s… She’ll be fine, this is Michelle, a- um- I’m a friend of, I’m a friend. What do I need to know, where are we going?” she can’t find the words like she normally can, she’s gone numb, but things are a mess and she knows someone needs to do something.

“Michelle, you must be one of the kids she mentioned I’m assuming? There’s a ship on the way to pick you all up, have what you need ready, we’re bringing you somewhere safe.” He has a very commanding voice, it annoys her a bit if she’s being honest.

“Who is this anyways?” she questions, the voice sounds familiar.

“This is Captain Steve Rogers.” He answers

“ _right of course I’m talking to Captain America, what even is going on_ ” she mutters under her breath, beyond tired and frustrated and confused.

“Michelle,” the captain calls her attention, “are you ok?”

Michelle humorlessly snorts at his question, “Look around cap, the world just ended, I don’t think anyone is ok.”

“We are going to fix this.” and he sounds so honest, like he actually believes he can somehow bring everyone back, MJ hangs up on him.

She places the phone on a nearby coffee table and goes into May’s room and starts packing clothes and toiletries for the both of them, she’s sure may won’t mind if she borrows some clothes from her. She then goes into Peter’s room to pack the clothes she knows Ned keeps here because he’s always spending the night. She can’t quite breath in Peter’s room. Her eyes sting and her arms are shaking, but someone has to do something. She’s throwing clothes haphazardly into the duffle bags she’s found. Her shoulders start to shake, and she starts to sob. She can’t do this.

A soft hand grabs her wrist gently and her head shoots up to look at whoever has just come into the room. She looks up into May’s red eyes, stares for a second, and then collapses into her chest in tears. May’s shoulders are still shaking, but she’s calmed down a bit.

“Shhh, it’s ok sweetheart, it’s ok.” She rubs her back, holding her tightly. “I’m not being a very good adult guardian right now, am I?” her voice sounds wet and hoarse.

Michelle shakes her head and sniffles, “It’s ok, you deserve to break down like that, nothing that’s happening is fair or right.”

May gives her a weak smile, “So do you sweetheart, and no matter how unfair life is, I should still be the one taking care of you two, go sit down with Ned, I’ll finish packing.”

MJ doesn’t have the energy to argue with her, and she walks out of the room and sits with Ned. They lean on each other for support and wait for the ship to come.

* * *

 

 

Peter can’t really handle this anymore. He’s stuck in the middle of a circle of people he doesn’t know, all discussing their theories or talking in hushed tones for more private conversations. They keep eyeing him and Groot, he can feel it. It’s honestly suffocating. So, making a sudden decision, he stands up and goes to leave the circle.

“Kid you should probably stick around here, we don’t know how infinite this hellhole is, or how long we’re going to be here, it would suck if you got lost.” Quill speaks up as soon as Peter goes to walk away.

“Oh- I’m not leaving, I… I just need to get a breather? To stretch my legs and pace a bit? I don’t know but I won’t go far.” And he’s being honest, he has no intention of walking off, this place terrifies him. But he can’t stay in that cluster any longer, he feels simultaneously completely alone and overwhelmed. He walks to about a few yards away from them, where he can still see them and he can still vaguely hear them with his heightened hearing. He feels their eyes follow him as he walks away. He begins to pace.

Peter is desperately trying to keep himself calm as he paces, but this situation is insane, and horrible, and he has no one around that knows him enough to really keep him grounded. He’s surrounded by his idols and aliens and trillions of people he doesn’t know, but he’s Spiderman, he can get through this just like he’s gotten through everything else. Somehow the thought doesn’t calm him down much.

He glances over and a short distance away he recognizes a man sitting with two younger kids clutching him tightly. Peter is absolutely positive that that is MJ’s dad, and those kids are MJ’s two younger siblings. He stares blankly at the small, incomplete family. Peter has a sudden desperate need to go over and sit with them, he’s only met the man a few times, but it would be almost a semblance of home. He knows immediately after the thought crosses his mind that he can’t. The older man is probably more overwhelmed than Peter is, not being even remotely used to the insane happenings that were common occurrences for heroes, and he had to make sure his kids stayed calm and felt safe. He did not need another kid to worry about. Peter just stood there and stared, the family too distracted to notice him.

He hears someone walk up behind him and sees whoever it is stop next to him in his peripheral vision.

“Do you know them?” a gruff voice asks, it was Mr. Barnes, Peter gives a soft nod. “You can go to them if you want, you’ll probably be more comfortable with people you actually know.”

Peter’s shoulders shake gently with the stress of his emotional struggle, “I can’t” he shrugs, hoping to relieve some of the tension building up.

“Who are they?” He asks instead of asking ‘ _why not_ ’ and Peter’s a little grateful.

“The older man, he’s the dad of one of my best friends, and the kids are her little siblings, and, and, _oh_ _god she’s all alone_.” He starts to tell him, but the thought hits him like a train, Michelle is in his situation, but on Earth, no family to ground her.

“That’s the only family she has? No where else she can go?” Mr. Barnes is trying to calm down his panic before it builds up again, trying to get Peter to think positively. And it works a little, Peter stops his derailing train of thought and pauses, Aunt May, she would go to Aunt May, they’ll comfort each other. She won’t have to go through what he’s going through right now.

“No, no she… she’s most likely with my aunt, she’s gonna be alright.” A takes a calming breath, he’s too easily worked up in this hellhole, he wants to get out horribly.

“Why is she going to be with your aunt?” The older man is trying to keep conversation with him, Peter recognizes that Mr. Barnes is trying to keep him grounded.

“Um, well my house is usually where we hang out, I know Ned, my uh other best friend, is probably there too cause his parents were out of town when this all, y’know… MJ probably won’t want to be alone.” He rambles for a little not really knowing where he’s going with this. Mr. Barnes just nods and stares off into the infinite orange-ness.

“So why your aunt? Where are your parents?”

“well, uh, they kinda died when I was pretty young”

“Shit sorry kid- “

“No, it’s fine, like I said I was pretty young, I vaguely remember them.”

“So… is it just you and your aunt? No uncles or grandparents?” Peter winces a little at the question.

“Um I think I have some distant relatives somewhere, never met them though, and I, um, I had an uncle, Uncle Ben, he died too… a couple years ago now.” He trails off

“I’m really bad at this conversation, aren’t I? sorry Pete…” he pauses for a few seconds before trying to change the subject, “Your enhanced too, aren’t you?” peter nods, “That why you decided to put on the whole spider get-up? Got some powers and wanted to go kick some ass- er butt?”

“It’s ok Mr. Barnes you don’t have to sensor yourself, I’m really not that young. And, well, not exactly… I got these powers and I was able to do amazing things, I could’ve stopped my uncle’s death I think, but I, I didn’t, didn’t realize I could’ve until it was too late, and that made me make up my mind to try and go out and stop as many future tragedies as I could, help the people I could, cause if I can stop them, if I can do something, but I don’t even try to, then, well, they pretty much happen because of me.” Peter is staring blankly out into the distance, mind showing him flashes of that night of the blood and the gunshot. He still relives it three years later.

“Wow, once again, sorry for bringing that up…”

“I mean, it’s just something I have to live with, so really, its fine. Thanks for chatting with me Mr. Barnes.”

“Call me Bucky, and anytime, you seem like you’ve been through more than a 17-year-old should have to go through, so if you need someone to talk to I’ll be here, when all of this is over, I’ll make sure we stay connected.” Bucky looks down at him finally and gives him a soft smile

“You seem like you’ve been through more than what anybody should have to go through, but thanks, er-Bucky, I’ll keep that in mind, and I-uh I’m here if you need someone to talk to as well?” Peter was starting to feel close to better for the first time since he got brought here, he really hopes he can stay friends with Bucky Barnes, Ned would totally freak.

* * *

 

 

May and the teens arrived in Wakanda three hours after the captain had called and told them a ship was on the way. They didn’t really talk throughout the ride aside from May checking in and worrying over MJ and Ned. Once they got there, they were greeted and shown to their temporary rooms.

Neither MJ or Ned wanted to be alone, so once they set their things down in their separate rooms they sat together in MJ’s room. MJ pretending to be reading a thick book, Ned notice she hasn’t turned the page but doesn’t comment. And Ned was half-heartedly playing with some Legos he brought from Peter’s room, MJ doesn’t comment on his sniffles or him wiping at his eyes every few minutes.

Aunt May was not about to sit around. She dropped her stuff off in her room and then proceeded to go demand where Tony Stark was.

“We’re sorry ma’am, but he is barely coming out of critical condition, we are overwhelmed with injured right now.” The first medical person she found replied.

“Then where is captain America? Or anybody who can give me answers!” she says hysterically

“Mrs. Parker?” _speak of the devil and he will appear_ , behind her came Captain Rodgers himself. Before she can start screaming and questioning he speaks again, “Mrs. Parker, I’m sorry that you have to go through all this, and I need to speak with Tony just as much as you do, but we have to be patient, we’ve lost too much, we can’t afford to rush things anymore.”

“I just want to know what happened, I- I just need to know where my boy is.” She says desperately voice thick with her sobs.

“Mrs. Parker you’re going to want to sit down, I’ll explain what I can.” He guides her to a private meeting room, and ushers her to take a seat. Once they’re settled in he proceeds to explain who Thanos is, what he wanted to do, what he was after, how he succeeded. At least as much of the situation he knew. “According to Stark’s ally that came back with him, everyone survived their fight with Thanos, but she and Tony were the only two that survived the end event.” He sighs, “Mrs. Parker, I know you may want someone to blame this on but blame it on all of us for not winning this war, don’t single Stark out. I may not have been in contact with him for the last two years, but I kept tabs on him, I know how much he tried to keep Spiderman safe- “

“Peter.”

“Sorry?”

“His name was Peter, Peter Parker. People, you heroes who he fought with and idolized, should know his name, should know who he was.” Her voice is tired and worn out, “And I don’t blame you, and lord knows Tony cared for Peter, I got a good look at his suit, it was equipped with every safety procedure ever. I also know he was constantly upgrading it. The only reason I let him stay involved is because Peter is reckless and would be out there in pajamas if Stark wasn’t keeping him safe.” They drift into silence.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Parker, that you have to go through this.”

“Everyone on Earth is going through this, I have two kids down the hall who just lost their best friend, that girl that came with me, lost her family too, and by the look in your eyes, you’ve lost someone as well.” She sighs, “just promise me, when you go after this Thanos guy again, you kick his face in for Peter Parker.” And with that she stands and walks out, she doesn’t go to her room, but to MJ’s room, and finds the kids leaning against each other sniffling and attempting at distracting themselves in their own ways.

“Room for one more?” she asks with a soft smile

They return the smile, and scoot over a bit so she can join them.

* * *

 

 

Steve walked back to the large room where he had left the others. Once he had heard May Parker had arrived, he left in a bit of a rush. It’s been just over a week since what they’re calling the End Event occurred. Every day the survivors had been gathering to try and discuss their next plan of action. But it wasn’t easy, some of their heaviest hitters were dust, they’re a bunch of people grieving more so than they are strategizing.

The arrival of Tony and the robotic woman, Nebula, brought a little more hope, especially when she told them that Stark was determined to fix this mess of a situation. They all knew what Stark was like when he was determined to do something, they’ve all stood with him and stood against him when he’s determined to do something. It gave them their first bit of hope.

Currently in the meeting room of surviving super heroes was Natasha, Thor, Rocket, and Nebula. Rhodes and Banner were probably still with Tony.

“Any news on Clint or Scott?” he asks Nat, she silently shakes her head. He sighs and sits down.

“How’s Stark?” she asks.

“He’s finally out of critical condition, last I checked he’s conscious longer than he’s not now.” He shrugs, it’s something positive, they need positive right now.

“How long until he heals? That man said he had an idea, or he could come up with a plan! We need to fix this, the longer we wait the more likely its not reversable.” Nebula says frustrated, and angry.

“Calm down” Thor’s voice booms without him even having to yell, “Stark will rejoin us in due time, we cannot rush things now, the future needs to be examined carefully, if we proceed with caution we’ll have a better chance at success.”

The room is hushed.

In the heavy silence they hear something coming down the hall, it sounds akin to a high tech remote control car, also footsteps. They all turn to the door where they see Princess Shuri walk in followed by Rhodes and Banner, and lastly in what looks like a sleeker wheel chair, is Tony. The room is still silent as they all take him in.

“Can you guys believe Wakandan tech? even in times of crisis its still light years away from everything else on Earth.” Steve recognizes that voice as Tony’s ‘trying to sound ok when he’s really not’ tone of voice.

“Stark, we were told you have ideas, plans?” Natasha speaks up first.

“well, not quite, I have a semblance of a semblance of a plan, a vague outline one could call it.”

“Get to the point Stark!” Nebula snarls.

“Sheesh! Ok then, it starts like this, the stones, the gauntlet, right? They caused this, if all that power could do this… then?”

“It could reverse it…” Nat finishes for him

“Stark,” Thor chimes in tiredly, “We could barely beat him when he had four stones, I flung my axe and pierced his chest and still he snapped his fingers, he can’t be beat with all that power.”

“Axe? Not a hammer guy anymore?”

“Hammers are out of fashion” Thor flatly jokes back

“ _Tony_ , continue please” Steve all but begs, he’s tired and grieving and just wants to finish this all.

“Yessir,” he mock salutes, “you’re right Thor, Thanos is an invincible monster. Or is he? You see, Thanos may have incredible strength but he doesn’t know everything, I guarantee you I am smarter than him, and she,” he points to Shuri, “is smarter than me, and he,” addressing Banner now, “is about the same as me, but the point is that we have more brain power and Thanos doesn’t know that.” Tony’s voice sounds strained, excited, almost bordering on hysterical.

“This is all you have?” Rocket questions, annoyed and defeated, “you think you guys are smarter than the guy that just killed half the universe?”

“Listen dumpster diver, It’s a plan- “

“A plan that won’t work idiot- “

“well please tell the class what plan you have?”

“ain’t got a plan, we already lost, game over”

“So, you’re just going to give up?”

“So, you aren’t?”

Tony’s hand slams on the table they’re all gathered around effectively making Rocket stop talking and breaking his joking tone, “I can’t afford to give up, Thanos took the last person who deserved to be taken, and looking around at all of your sad faces, I’m assuming you’re all thinking similar thoughts. Everyone in this room lost someone last week, some more than others. I’m not taking that lying down. So, let’s get to work, if you want to walk out and give up all hope, dumpster diver, then be my guest, but take your pity party somewhere else.”

Rocket gives a huff but sits down and listens.

Tony, Banner, and Shuri throw ideas around, Tony does most of the talking and Steve can tell that he’s been thinking about this for longer than any of them, Steve also remembers Spiderman, Peter Parker, he mentally corrects, a 17-year-old boy who turned into dust on some foreign planet light years away from home. He listens diligently to the slowly forming plan.

They come to three conclusions:

  1. The obvious: They need to get the gauntlet, and by connection, the stones
  2. Thanos doesn’t know who survived and doesn’t know who’s with who, but they don’t know where Thanos is either
  3. They need to catch him off guard, if they want any hope of winning.



They had something to build off of.

With that they split up. Shuri, Banner, and Rocket left to figure out how to start tracking down Thanos, the rest of them clustered closer together and devised a plan for when they did.

* * *

 

 

May had tracked Tony down as soon as she heard he was out of his hospital room. She found him in the kitchen they all shared in the facilities building they were being housed in. he was stumbling around trying to make himself something to eat. She watched him struggle for a bit before taking pity.

“Need help?” she offers, voice still hoarse from her sleepless nights of crying.

Tony immediately straightens up and whirls around to face her, “May!” he says shocked and a little scared.

She raises an eyebrow at him and goes to pull out eggs and other ingredients to make a couple of omelets.

“Uh- you really don’t have to- “she shoots him a look that makes him stop talking and then she remains silent as she begins cooking, she can practically hear Tony thinking of what to say, but he stays silent until she’s finished making both of their food.

Before either start to eat Tony finally pipes up, “May, I’m sorry- I- I tried, and it wasn’t enough- “

“I don’t blame you Tony,” she sighs, tired, “I mean I think I kind of did when I first found out, but Captain Rodgers sat me down, explained this whole insane situation, and I know, you, everyone fought as hard as they could, even, even Peter. This Thanos guy was just too strong.” Her eyes are growing wet again and her voice straining against the urge to cry.

“Peter was strong too, maybe even a bit bull-headed. May I tried to send him back, he didn’t go, he fought just as hard as everyone, at one point he nearly had the gauntlet off of Thanos, he didn’t deserve this.” Tony can see the pride and anguish in May’s eyes, he knows it’s reflected in his.

“Don’t tell me how, um, how it happened, but could you tell me what his last words were?” she pleaded with wet eyes.

“He, Peter, he apologized, the last thing he said to me before, the last thing he said was ‘I’m Sorry’ and knowing that boy, it was probably a message he wanted you to hear too.” Tony struggled bringing the harsh memory back.

May pressed her lips together and squeezed her eyes closed tight, as if she was in pain; which, Tony thinks, she is. She brings a hand up to cover her mouth, and large tears stream down her cheeks. She breathes in a gasp and sniffles before giving a soft breathy, “Thank you”

Tony can’t look at her, can’t look at the pain he caused on her face.

“Hey,” he hears her raspy call for his attention, “this isn’t your fault.” She says with such conviction, it makes Tony struggle to find his breath. This is the last person Tony expected not to blame him, “you fought, and you lost, but so did everyone else, everyone lost someone on that day, we have no one to blame but Thanos.” It was Tony’s turn to squeeze his eyes shut at the strong wave of emotion that hits him, anger, sadness, regret, exhaustion, he just gives her a weak nod. “that reminds me, is, is Pepper alright? I haven’t seen her around, did she- “

“Yeah, she’s alright,” Tony quickly cuts her off, “she’s still back upstate in New York, I’ve tried to get her to come here, but she’s says she needs to be there and I’m needed here, we video call nightly though.”

“I’m happy for you then”

And they finish eating in silence.

* * *

 

 

It takes another week before they successfully track down Thanos, after that it takes a few days to organize the squads and polish the plan. They all know this will either be a suicide mission or the victory to end all victories. They’re walking straight into another coin flip.

They take the Milano and it takes them another 4 days to arrive on the planet Thanos was residing on. They land a few dozens of yards away from Thanos, only Tony steps out, wearing his armor.

He starts to walk towards the large purple man, Thanos in turn walks towards him too. They meet somewhere in the middle.

“Stark! So, you were spared! How is your world thriving in balance?” his voice is condescending, sounding like even more of an asshole than Tony does on his worst days.

“Absolute Chaos grape face! Came to talk to you about that actually, y’see… nothing was really actually balanced, more people are dying than ever before, because of y’know, all the riots, lack of doctors, lack of half a functioning society, it’s pretty bad!” Thanos actually has the gall to chuckle, like Tony is actually trying to chat with him, “So, yeah I was wondering if, maybe, if at all possible, we could get a refund on that whole half the universe dies thing you did? Cause it _really fucking sucks_.” the anger he’s feeling begins to seep through into his voice and Thanos’s smile turns into an ugly smirk.

“Unfortunately, no, I sacrificed too much to see my dream become a reality,” at this he holds up his hand flexing his fingers in the gauntlet, “I can’t undo it all just because your _people_ are throwing fits like untamed children.” He chuckles once again, and Tony, impossibly, gets angrier.

“Unfortunately, Barney, you sacrificed things that weren’t yours to sacrifice, and I can’t let that slide. Because you see, on my planet there was an idea, an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if they could become something more. To fight the battles that no one ever could, that idea, the idea of heroes, became the Avengers.” Thanos stretched his neck a bit, smirk gone from his face, instead he looked bored, like a king no longer amused by his jester. “and do you know why we were called the avengers? Well it’s because our main priority was to protect the Earth, but if we failed, and we kinda did, well you can be damn sure we’d avenge it, and the rest of the universe while we’re at it.” He finishes and there’s a brief silence before Thanos breaks into booming laughter.

“You amuse me Stark! That was truly a touching speech, but what makes you think you can fight me while I have all the infinity stones? When you couldn’t beat me when I had only 4 and you had more people to fight!”

“Well first off, I’m like the third smartest person I know, second, you are definitely not one of the other two, I wouldn’t even call you top ten, and third, you pissed me off, you pissed a lot of people off, but I’m who you have to worry about, because y’see, there was this kid named Peter, I believe you referred to him as an insect! And you had the nerve to turn around and _turn. Him. Into. Dust_. So, you’ve made a few too many mistakes grimace!”

Suddenly, from seemingly out of nowhere Nebula jumps out towards Thanos’s back, she’s soundless but even still Thanos snatches her mid jump and slams her to the ground. He smiles.

“This was your plan? Have my daughter try to do what she’s tried to do countless times before?” He chuckles and presses down onto Nebula, slowly beginning to crush her, she screams out in pain clawing at his arm.

“Stop Let her go!” Tony cries out throwing his hands out in worry, Thanos’s grip tightens and he glares down at him. Tony’s hands raise up further in surrender, and he begins to plead while Nebula continues to scream as the air is pressed out of her lungs. Thanos smirks at their efforts and effectively falls into their trap.

If he thought this was all they had, he was wrong, Shuri had sent them off with armor that had cloaking technology. While Tony had walked off and distracted Thanos, everyone else had snuck off practically invisible and got behind enemy lines, Nebula was the second distraction, not the actual attack.

He was distracted because he thought the attack had failed, and in his distracted state Natasha runs up and pierces his back with two vibranium spears. Thanos is caught off guard and raises his arms to pull her and the spears off him, but in that moment Thor’s axe comes flying down as it had once before on the battle field the day everything had turned to dust, once again it hits its mark. It slices through his left forearm, severing the gauntlet covered hand from the rest of his body, he screams in anguish and anger.

Steve walks up and picks up the glove shaking it until a purple hand falls to the floor with a thud. Nebula rolls out of the way as Natasha pushes forward against the spears causing Thanos to fall onto his chest, she pushes the spears deeper into and through his back, effectively pinning him to the floor, for good measures she stabs three more vibranium knives into his non-severed arm and legs. He groans like the fallen beast he is.

Tony walks up to him and crouches down next to his head, “What makes me think we can beat you? Well, I’m very smart and they’re very mad.” He stands back up and Nebula pulls out her blaster. “Listen up you fucking raisin! You’re about to die, she,” he gestures to Nebula, “is about to kill you, and for every shot she puts into your back I want you to remember the names of the people you took from us, starting with Peter Parker.”

“Bucky and Sam” Steve adds.

“Wanda, Vision, T’challa.” Natasha says.

Rocket, having finally joined them, chimes in, “you’re gonna wanna remember Quill, Gamora, Drax, Mantis, and _Groot_.” He snarls.

“And finally, Thanos, you will remember Loki of Asgard, Brunnhilde of Asgard, and all of the Asgardians you slaughtered.” Thor booms, the voice of a true king, tired, finally finding justice.

“I assure you this is going to be a slow and painful death, I have a lot of pent up aggression for you _dad_.” She aims and fires once in his back, then again, and again, she pulls out another blaster and continues to fire shot after shot. She growls and screams in anger and rage, while Thanos screams in agony.

Ten minutes later they all board the Milano together, exhausted but high off victory and carrying the gauntlet in tow, Nebula was sweating but Rocket had never seen her look happier or more relaxed. They all were happy to leave, assured that Thanos was a pile of burnt ash and purple flesh now. And with that they make the four-day trip back home.

* * *

 

 

It takes almost two weeks, but they begin reversing everything Thanos had destroyed with the gauntlet. The first thing they do is help Thor bring back all the Asgardians slain by Thanos, even Loki is brought back, not without some grumbling from Tony and Steve first. They bring them all back to Earth and they take refuge outside of Wakanda. After that they undo the End Event, bringing back everyone in the universe who was tuned to dust by the snap of Thanos’s fingers, they’re even able to revive Vision without putting the mind stone back into his head. And finally, Nebula takes the gauntlet back to Vormir, and trades the soul stone for Gamora’s soul, before Nebula’s eyes Gamora reforms standing on the edge of the cliff she had been thrown from.

* * *

 

 

May had watched as the team had flown off to fight Thanos for hopefully the last time. And she had been there when they arrived. In between that time, she took care of MJ and Ned, she had help because she had convinced someone to have Ned’s moms brought there too. Eventually Pepper Potts joined their little family of refugees, arriving saying she did all she could do in New York. And all together they waited, they tried to have normal conversations, but it didn’t work, the air was too suffocating. So they walked around each other and waited for the team of Heroes to return.

May got closer with both MJ and Pepper over the week they waded around their temporary home. They would sit and talk about the heroes in their lives, and how crazy they were, or late at night when they found each other crying over their situations, they would hold each other until they calmed down. It was an emotional time but they helped each other through it.

May also got to know Bruce Banner, who stayed behind on the trip saying something about the Hulk being too unpredictable. He was a funny if not weird guy, in some ways his nerdiness and awkwardness reminded her of Peter. She liked being around him, they were slowly becoming good friends.

When she got news that those who went on the trip were nearly back, she, MJ, and Pepper went out to the landing deck and waited. Soon enough the ship landed, and out they stepped. Pepper immediately found Tony and they hugged, Tony squeezed her so tight, May almost thought he’d squeeze the life out of her. Once letting each other go, although staying within an arm’s reach of each other, Tony’s eyes found May, and he walked over to her.

“He’s dead, we beat Thanos.” And May’s shoulders fall with the release of tension she was holding, she rushes forward and hugs him, she feels Pepper rub her back as she sobs.

She knows its not over after that, she’s heard whisperings around the base, of a plan. A plan for what, she isn’t sure, but she knows this whole event isn’t over.

Finally, Tony finds her over a week later, she’s with MJ and the Leeds family in a common room. He stands in the center of the room and claps, getting everyone’s attention.

“This may be the best news I’ve ever, or ever will, deliver so listen up!” he pauses for dramatic effect, making eye contact with all the bewildered faces in the room, “we’re bringing everyone back.”

The room is dead silent, everyone staring at Tony Stark like he grew a second head.

“If you’re trying to be funny, it isn’t working.” MJ deadpans. May gives her a look, before turning back to Tony,

“What do you mean? You can’t actually bring everyone back, can you?” she questions, refusing to let herself hope.

“We can and we are, we weren’t going to say anything until we knew for sure, but Thor’s just returned from bringing back his people with the gauntlet, he says it’ll work and we can bring everyone back.” Tony’s voice is serious, May sees the honesty in his eyes, and tears spring to hers.

“You’re bringing back my boy?” she whispers, he nods, she stands up and squeezes him in a hug, “Thank you, thank you for this.”

* * *

 

 

They sat together, for how long? Nobody knows, but in the hours, days, weeks, maybe months they were together, they got to know each other. Peter learned how to speak Groot, coerced Dr. Strange and Scarlet witch (who demanded to be called Wanda) to promise to show him some proper magic when they got out, learned more about the guardians of the galaxy and their adventures, was told amazing stories of Bucky and Steve from their youth, and became actual friends with the actual falcon who had acted very annoyed with him at first. He became friends with all of them really, at least he hopes he has.

He also learns that the Black Panther is somewhere not far in the soul stone as well, but that he had decided to stay with his people instead of the other heroes. Peter wanted desperately to go meet him, he and MJ were in awe of the king, but he hadn’t been able to. He hopes that when its all over, he gets to meet him one day.

Despite all this, their time in the infinite soul stone wore down on them. They were mentally and emotionally exhausted, they couldn’t sleep, and none of them wanted to wander, knowing they would see nothing but distraught peoples for miles. Peter often walked away to pace and have mini break downs, he couldn’t handle this for much longer, he doesn’t think anyone could.

He’s a hero though, his job was to take care of others before himself, so he tried his best to do that. That’s why he got to know everyone so well, he kept them talking, kept them out of their thoughts the best he could. And he realizes they’re all trying to do the same for him.

 He also kept an eye on MJ’s family, made sure they were as ok as could be. The kids, not fully understanding the situation, played and complained and that kept Mr. Jones occupied and distracted enough so he didn’t spiral either.

They had been sitting around, Peter exaggerating the fight he had with Toomes, or as he called him, the Vulture. He made it as dramatic and heroic as he could, keeping everyone’s attention. When his words catch in his throat. He feels a violent sensation at the base of his head, his arms get covered with goosebumps, his spidey-sense is screaming at him, _its happening its happening_ _its happening its happening its happening_. And at the same time, he hears Mantis gasp.

“Kid? What’s wrong it was just getting go- “Quill’s voice catches in his throat as he and everyone around him begin turning into dust once again. Peter’s eyes grow wide with fear, his heart beats erratically, it’s happening again.

He hears the echoes of screams and cries throughout the space they fill until it’s only Gamora and Peter left. He’s gasping and trembling and he reaches for her. She grabs his hand confused.

“Peter, why aren’t you going too?” she questions, panicked.

“My body,” he gasps out, “it heals fast, it slows this whole thing down, I, I’m scared.” He cries out, again his body is being torn apart and he’s terrified.

“It’s ok Peter, calm down, you’re going back, you’re going to be ok.” Gamora squeezes his hand, and runs a hand through his crumbling hair, “Let it take you”

And Peter does, he takes a deep breath and feels his body crumble.

* * *

 

 

He wakes up to orange skies, and for a second, he panics thinking he’s still in the soul stone, but the air feels like actual air and there’s no thin layer of liquid under him, only uncomfortable rocks. It takes him a little bit to realize, but he’s back on tighten, back to being alive. Once he realizes that, then the aches and pains from his last battle set it. He lets out a groan and he hears Quill’s distant voice call out to him.

“Kid you alive?”

Peter lifts his arm and offers a thumbs up, he can’t help but smile as he does. Drax and Quill walk over and help him up, Mantis and Dr. Strange follow in tow. Everyone is sporting large smiles and are laughing a little hysterically, in relief and exhaustion.

“Let’s get you home Pete.” Quill says and turns and starts to head back in the direction Peter assumes is his ship. But before he can walk very far a bright light shoots down in front of them and The God of Thunder himself stands before him. “Oh great, this guys back.”

“ _Holy shit_ ” Peter adds

“It’s good to see you again Guardians! Alive and well! I have your allies back on Earth and the blue robot woman is collecting her sister, you will all reunite soon! And Wizard! You’re back too!” Thor smiles down at them, Peter just gapes in awe as Thor turns his attention to him, “You must Peter! I’ve heard much about you, your aunt and Tony speak highly of you, it is good to have you back with us!” Peter gapes like a fish, not knowing what to say. “I am here to bring you all to Earth, the Bifrost is the fastest mode of transportation we have.”

“Thanks buddy, but I’d rather not leave my ship here- “Quill starts.

“your ship isn’t here, the blue one has it, she used it to get Stark and her off the planet and is currently using it to retrieve her sister, I’m afraid you either come with me or you stay here.” He gives them a teasing smile. Strange is already moving to stand next to him, looking tired and bored.

Peter didn’t have to be told twice, he immediately went to stand next to Thor as well, looking up and nervously smiling and then looking away. Quill looks betrayed.

“Pete? We share names and you betray me like this?” he gives his best puppy dog eyes, which aren’t really convincing on a middle-aged man.

“dude, come on! You honestly want me to choose staying on this planet than going home with Thor? I have an aunt and friends waiting back home! Plus, its _Thor_!”

Drax and Mantis shrug and join him and he sees Thor smile smugly. With a groan and a muttered _fine, whatever_ , Quill joins them too, and soon enough they’re taken by a bright light and in a matter of seconds there’s ground beneath his feet once again. His vision clears and standing before him is aunt May, tears in her eyes and hands pressed against her mouth as she looks at him like he’s the greatest thing she’s seen, he runs at her and she at him. They crash into the most bone-crushing hug either of them has ever given or received. They’re both sobbing.

He hears shouts and cheers and cries outside of the embrace as the Guardians reunite.

He and May don’t separate for ten minutes, surprisingly it’s May who pulls away first.

“you have other people who want to see you,” she sniffles, “Ned’s here, and so are his Moms, MJ went back home to see her family, but she made a promise to come back.” May gives him a wet smile.

“Peter!” Peter’s head shoots towards the yell, and sees Ned running out, the biggest smile on his face and tears streaming down his cheeks, behind him his moms are smiling and crying too. Peter takes off and collides with his best friend in another hug that last for minutes. When they break apart he goes to hug Mrs. and Mrs. Leeds, they give him tight hugs too. Finally, he turns and sees Tony, his mentor, the man who watched him die, was standing there next to Pepper giving him a tight smile. Peter, who is aching and sore, still injured from the battle doesn’t hesitate to run to him too. He hugs his mentor tightly, and thanks him, he knows he had something to do with this.

“I missed you too kid, it’s good to have you back,” Tony hugs him, an actual hug, pats his shoulder a few times than pulls him an arm’s length away, giving him a quick once over, “jeez kid, you look like crap, let’s get you to medical and then we can all catch up.” Peter laughs in response.

And so, he is guided by Mr. Stark, followed by May and Ned into the large building they had appeared next to, they were all still sniffling, but they were smiling and laughing. And although Peter was sore and tired and still bleeding, he was truly happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Brunnhilde is actually the real name of Valkyrie, if anyone was wondering why Thor said some random name.   
> Also, don't assume that this was in a perfect order, the parts in the Soul stone don't align perfectly to what happened outside the stone.  
> I may write a series of Ficlits based in this universe, focusing on small moments taking place after the fix-it, to develop these characters and their experiences, again it will be peter-centric because I Stan, but let me know if you would want to see something specifically delved into.
> 
> Hey find me on tumblr! @B-obbs


End file.
